In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William
Howard Taft on the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in history to Hawaii,
Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea. Roosevelt's glamorous
twenty-one year old daughter Alice served as mistress of the cruise,
which included senators and congressmen. On this trip, Taft concluded
secret agreements in Roosevelt's name.
In 2005, a century later, James Bradley traveled in the wake of
Roosevelt's mission and discovered what had transpired in Honolulu,
Tokyo, Manila, Beijing and Seoul.
In 1905, Roosevelt was bully-confident and made secret agreements that
he though would secure America's westward push into the Pacific.
Instead, he lit the long fuse on the Asian firecrackers that would singe
America's hands for a century.